Additional 70s Music Notes
Circus magazine called The Tubes “the bull-goose loonies of the San Francisco scene.” Although originally comprised of Arizona musicians, the band was really an outgrowth of the outrageous theatrical rock scene storming the stage in the early 70s. With lead singer and front man John ‘Fee’ Waybill leading the freak charge, the Tubes presented a satirical bouillabaisse of zany sonic absurdity with elements of Zappa, the Yippies, KISS, SNL, the New York Dolls, Rocky Horror, Alice Cooper, National Lampoon, and Weimar Germany. Likening themselves to a cabaret show, the carnivalesque aura of their live performances 1973-77 was displayed through an extensive use of props, costumes, make up, tap dancers, acrobats and whatever else came to mind.
Fee Waybill introduced his new stage persona as Quay Lewd when the band opened for Led Zeppelin in June 1973 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco before an audience of 60,000.
Joined by Penthouse, Playboy, and Oui model Re Styles (born Shirley Macleod)—who was married to bandmember Prairie Prince—the outrageous Bay Area entourage reached even greater heights of stage production. The Tubes’ regular gigs at the Mitchell Brothers’ O’Farrell Theatre established the group as the de facto house band at the pornographers’ venue. Their name was even listed on the poster advertising the Mitchell Brothers’ X-rated film, Resurrection of Eve.
Their eponymous debut LP, “The Tubes” (1975) was produced by the legendary Al Kooper. The album contained two notable songs, ‘Mondo Bondage’ and ‘White Punks on Dope.’ Their second LP release, in 1976, “Young and Rich” led them on a tour of the UK the following year where they played before large adoring crowds and enjoyed massive success, along with a dose of British censorship. Their live album of the tour (released in 1978) cracked the UK’s Top 40. Re Styles’ duet with Waybill on the song ‘Prime Time’ was a hit in 1979.
The 80s witnessed the group shedding its skin of lurid spectacle for the more modest mainstream in a move better suited to the exploding MTV market. Their 1983 song ‘She’s a Beauty’ wound up a top ten hit on the US charts. But just two years later the original group disbanded with Waybill embarking on a solo career.
Interestingly, Waybill played a helping role in bringing a 1970s St. Paul all-female rock band to commercial success in the 80s. Jan Kuehnemund was a student at Harding High School when she formed her all-girl group, Lemon Pepper, modeling themselves as a garage band along the heavy music style of Led Zeppelin. The original lineup included Nancy Sharks, Marlene Peterson, and Laurie Hedlund.
Rebranded as Vixen in 1973, the group hit the local bar circuit—venues such as the Cabooze, Duffy’s, and The Union were regular gigs for this pioneering female band. Having exhausted their hometown watering-holes, the band took on new membership as it relocated to Los Angeles in the early 80s. It wasn’t long before they were christened the ‘female Bon Jovi.’ It was the era of Big Hair. They toured with the likes of Scorpion, Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne and, of course, Bon Jovi. Like the Tubes, they became MTV stars.
Here’s where Fee Waybill enters the story. He joined forces with singer/songwriter Richard Marx to write and produce their 1988 signature hit, ‘Edge of a Broken Heart.’ The power ballad garnered lots of attention and massive record sales. That same year their debut eponymous LP titled “Vixen” reached #41 on the Billboard 200, earning them a gold record.
A multitude of personnel and musical changes—along with the expected lawsuits—found the group breaking up and reuniting over the course of the years. The group’s original founder, Jan Kuehnemund, passed away from cancer at the age of 59 on October 10, 2013.
The interested can explore Jan’s story and the band’s legacy in the Gale Family Library at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul where all manner of relics have been archived.